SEOUL: North Korea has dismissed its minister of state security, considered a key aide to the secretive state’s young leader, Kim Jong Un, South Korea said on Friday, following a series of high-level purges.
Kim Won Hong was removed from office as head of the top spy agency in mid-January apparently on charges of corruption, abuse of power and human rights abuses, Jeong Joon-hee, South Korea’s Unification Ministry spokesman, said, confirming media reports.
Kim Jong Un became leader in 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, and his consolidation of power has included purges and executions of top officials, South Korean officials have said.
Last year, North Korea’s vice premier for education was executed for not keeping his posture upright at a public event, South Korea said.
It is difficult to independently verify news about top officials in the North, which has angered the West with a series of missile and nuclear weapons tests in defiance of UN resolutions and sanctions.
